front plate mounting

[souza]

I just registered my truck in Rhode Island, where they require a front
plate. I've got a SafariGard bumper, which has no front plate brackets,
so I'm looking for a nice way to mount the plate. I can just drill some
holes in the bumper and mount it offset a little on the flat part, but
I'm looking for something a little better, if it's out there.

I've seen some people attaching Mag-Light clips to the plate and then
clipping it to the vertical rollers on their fairleads, which can then
be detached for winching, but I've got a hawse fairlead with my
synthetic line. I really do like this idea though and would love a way
to have a quick disconnect plate mounted over the winch somehow. It
seems the tubes on the SG bumper would be too big to just mount the
Mag-Light clips to the bars, but I might try it.

There's always zip ties, which I think will have to do in the short
term, but I was wondering if anyone came up with a nice solution.

Thanks in advance,
Dave Souza

[TwisteD90]

That's how I had mine mounted. http://www.d-90.com/bios/yousef_hamzeh/yousef_hamzeh05.jpg
I drilled a couple of holes and that was it

Follow-up Post:

Just thought of something else. I've seen few people here in CO mounting the plate on their roof rack, do you think that would work?

[dmarchand]

Dave, I've had the same problems. Mine is zip tied to the light bar on my bumper and I just cut it loose for wheeling. Most of the time I forget to put it back on.

I was thinking of getting this from Rovertym: http://www.rovertym.com/ourprod/plateholder.jpg

Paint it black, drill some extra holes through the plate and see if it would fit. But for my RW bumper, I still don't think their is enough room to make it work.

Roof rack is a suggestion. Or you could do something totally novel and rivet it to your bonnet Camel Trophy style... :)

[souza]

Yousef,

Are you telling me that mashed bit of white on the bumper below your passenger headlight is a license plate? It looks like a sticker.... That's really kind of funny :grin I'd like to avoid my plate looking like that after the first trail ride ;)

I could maybe put it up on the roof rack, I'm not sure I like the look though.

thanks for the ideas!

Follow-up Post:

Dave,

On a suggestion from Jeff Gauvin, I loosened my hawse fairlead a little and shoved the plate in there, and then tightened it up. That's a lot cheaper than buying that holder from RT, but does about the same thing. And there's no way it's going anywhere. It's a little tight on the SG bumper space wise, because of the center 3rd light tab just above that point, but since the plate is sliding in there, it takes up less room than if it were attached above the fairlead. It fits, just close.

What I don't like is that now I can't see my winch spool without being right at the bumper and looking down... You know I've got a short cable, and I'd hate to pull it all out or just have it bind up during winching cause I (or someone watching) couldn't see it from a safe distance... Am I being too picky about this?

I'm ready to just use zip ties, but I was afraid I'd get hassled during inspection.

[flippedrover]

I've got the Rovertym bracket. Works fine with the RW bumper. It uses the bolts for the fairlead to hold it on. No need to drill extra holes in the plate.

[read]

I would check your local laws regarding plate placement. For instance, In CA the plate may not be mounted more than 6ft above the road surface and not less than 90 degrees.

[KeithD]

In UK most plates are held on with industrial strength double sided tape.

http://www.d-90.com/bios/keith_duckett/keith_duckett03.jpg

It's off now as is most of the other rubbish. I thought one day when I am back in UK I wuld have a LR V8 plate made up for use here. In Alberta you can put anything you like on the front. :)

[scrover]

Check the local laws carefully. I've had 2 tickets in CA for no front license place - the second time it was on the dash against the windshield - clearly visible. The ticket said 'no front license plate on bumper' - bastards :rolleyes

SC

[wicks]

Yeah, they wrote me a parking ticket in Santa Monica for no plate. I double-stick-taped it to the front bumper, took a picture, mailed it off, and got off Scotch free. ;)

[dmarchand]

I've got the Rovertym bracket. Works fine with the RW bumper. It uses the bolts for the fairlead to hold it on. No need to drill extra holes in the plate.

Thanks Tyler, I have a different variation on the RW bumper with the light bar above the fairlead. It sits right in the way.

[flippedrover]

Ahh. What do you think about having the lights there as opposed to the sides?